SANTA MONICA (CBSLA) — A man was walking along the streets of Venice Saturday when he ran into his wife’s stolen SUV — driven by a woman he didn’t know.
The SUV was reported stolen in Santa Monica a week ago.
While the man called police — “I found my wife’s stolen car” — the woman who was behind the wheel decided to dash.
The LAPD said the crime was foiled by a very astute husband and a YouTube star with millions of subscribers.
The YouTube star happened on scene and began filming the woman as she ran away.
Sometimes it’s not detectives but luck that solves a crime.
“This is probably the strangest thing I have ever captured,” said YouTube star Matthew Santoro.
He summed it up with a tweet. And a video.

So this just happened.
This guy just stopped traffic because he found his wife’s stolen car. The woman driving it ran off. This happened in Venice. If anyone knows how to get this to the authorities please send them this video. pic.twitter.com/U3bWYe7lRU
— Matthew Santoro (@MatthewSantoro) May 19, 2018

The LAPD quickly caught wind of the video.
“I just thought I’d record it and put it on Twitter. I didn’t know who to tag or anything like that,” Santoro said. “I’ve never captured anything like this.”
The LAPD says the SUV would probably never have been recovered if a series of coincidences hadn’t aligned against 39-year-old Erica Puig.
Police say she’s the woman seen running from the SUV on the video is Puig. She might be still in the SUV if the husband of the owner hadn’t happened by and a YouTube star with a cellphone also hadn’t been on scene.
The LAPD announced Puig’s arrest — where else but on Twitter.
Fajardo reports that Puig has been booked on suspicion of grand theft auto.
Santoro said the LAPD sent him a DM on Twitter thanking him for his help.